Help with titanium dioxide!

[AshleyR]

I have titanium dioxide powder (oil soluable) that I want to use in my next soap.

I've not had the best luck using oxides to colour so far. They don't seem to mix in thoroughly in my experience. The soap I am going to be using the titanium dioxide in is going to be a gift for someone so I really don't want to eff yet another batch up!

My batch weight is going to be 3.25 lbs (oils). How much titanium dioxide should I use to colour the batch white and how should I add it? Should I mix it with some of the oils first, then add it to the rest? The other times I've experimented with using oxides I put some directly into the oils when I melted them. The colour still separated a bit in the cured soap even though it looked smooth and well blended when I was mixing...

The oils I'll be using are coconut, palm, grapeseed, olive, corn, safflower, and castor and the fragrance does not discolour.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[IrishLass]

When I add TD, I never add more than 1 tsp ppo. Too much more than that and the soap will take on a chalky feel.

With oil-soluble TD, I would add it directly to about 1/3 cup of the oils using a stickblender to blend the bejeebees out of it, and then I'd pour it and stickblend it in with the rest of the oils before adding the lye. Using a spoon or whisk just won't hack it, unfortunately- you really need a stickblender with oxides to get them mixed in well. Then I'd periodically stickblend the soap batter on and off until it's time to pour, in order to keep the TD well incorporated. This always works well for me when I use TD or any powdered oxide for that matter.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[AshleyR]

When I add TD, I never add more than 1 tsp ppo. Too much more than that and the soap will take on a chalky feel.

With oil-soluble TD, I would add it directly to about 1/3 cup of the oils using a stickblender to blend the bejeebees out of it, and then I'd pour it and stickblend it in with the rest of the oils before adding the lye. Using a spoon or whisk just won't hack it, unfortunately- you really need a stickblender with oxides to get them mixed in well. Then I'd periodically stickblend the soap batter on and off until it's time to pour, in order to keep the TD well incorporated. This always works well for me when I use TD or any powdered oxide for that matter.

HTH!
IrishLass

Thanks a lot!

 

[digit]

For me, I find that mixing my TD with a small amount of warmed base oil (~2x the amount of TD) in a bowl, stirring to get a creamy mix, and then adding to the warmed oils of the batch works well.

Digit

 

[Woodi]

I don't use TD, but with oxide powders, it's best to mix them with a little of the oils, cuz most are oil-soluble, not water-soluble (I found out the hard way, with bubbles of powder floating atop the lye-water). They do blend in nicely with oils though, especially if you mix one cup of soap with the powder, then swirl it into the rest of the batch.

 

[LomondSoap]

I use as little TD as possible, if I can get away with white clay I do.
I find TD does weird things in my finished soap if I use too much, I get a kind of curdled look in the bars.

 

[SoapMom]

I too have experienced the curdled effect in my solid white soaps. But then again it was already at a very thick trace when I was trying to get it in the mold so it could have been that I didn't mix the TD into the batch very well. I don't know which caused the curdled effect...all I know is that it looks awful! :cry:

 

[jadiebugs1]

The greatest little tool I've EVER found was at a yard sale this past summer. It is a little coffee/cocoa stick blender. It's about 4-5 inches long, 3 attachments, battery operated, and cost me 50 cents. I have no idea how I colored soaps before this little wonder tool came into my life....I even found a back up at the thrift store!

I use water soluble TD and add it to the lye/water mixture and blend it in there. I also use my powdered pigments/oxides in there also and have had no problems except for a minute little amount in the bottom that didn't blend in. Sometimes I even take a little batter (at light trace or before trace) and put a little powdered colorant and blend with the mighty little blender and it works beautifully. I only make 1.5lb. batches though, so it comes in handy quite often.

 

[SoapMom]

I got to thinking about the mixing issues with the oxides.....has anyone tried a magic bullet mixer to mix them with yet? I have...it does a pretty good job of mixing the oxides plus you could also store some in the containers already mixed with oils...ready to go into soap. What do you guys think?

 

[Bigmoose]

I put 1 oz of oxide in a squirt bottle and add 8 oz of glycerin and shake it till I can't shake it anymore. They have always blended well in soaps and it is mixed and ready to go for the next time I use it. Very easy to use.

Bruce